The last time hate or racist literature surfaced in Anderson Township was around 2005, recalls Greater Anderson Promotes Peace Founder and Executive Director Louise Lawarre.

News of a Ku Klux Klan recruitment flyer surfacing in an Anderson Township driveways over the weekend disappointed her but didn’t surprise her.

“This has been GAPP’s focus since the beginning,” she said. “It was an impetus for us starting.”

Mary Gilpin lives on Eight Mile Road, not far from Summit Elementary School. In an Aug. 5 Facebook post, she shared a photograph of a flyer tucked inside a plastic bag containing white rice that she said she found at her home.

“IN MY DRIVEWAY. IN ANDERSON. WHAT. It’s a baggy with a flyer in it. And white rice. Thrown in my driveway. I saw another one just a few houses down,” she wrote in part on her public post. The literature indicates that it’s from the Loyal White Knights Ku Klux Klan.

Gilpin did not reply to a request for comment.

A “hotline” phone number appears in the literature along with a website address, which comes up as unavailable. A recorded message on the hotline repeatedly uses the “n” word and the word "savage" as it references an incident involving Thurman Blevins.

Blevins was a black man who was shot by Minneapolis Police responding to a 911 call. He died from multiple gunshot wounds.

Robert Jones, the grand dragon of the Loyal White Knights of the KKK in North Carolina, said in a voicemail message that the flyer is part of a recruitment effort to let people know that the KKK is in the area. People who are offended by the flyer can throw it away, he said.

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“They’re not there to offend anybody; it’s just to let people know that the KKK is out there, they’re watching," Jones said.

The Hamilton County Sheriff’s office in Anderson Township has not received reports of people finding or receiving flyers, Lt. Matthew Guy said.

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John David Washington, Adam Driver and Topher Grace star in Spike Lee's "BlacKkKlansman," about an investigation to infiltrate the Ku Klux Klan.
MONKEYPAW PRODUCTIONS/BLUMHOUSE PRODUCTIONS

Anderson Township also has not received calls but was aware of Gilpin’s post, according to township Administrator Vicky Earhart.

Such literature does not appear with frequency in the township, but it does occur, she said.

Anderson Township hasn’t seen mass droppings of hate and racist literature in over a decade, Lawarre said. GAPP has, however, received reports of folks being approached by KKK recruiters in the grocery store and other public places.

Her message to the community, stand up and speak out. This is the first step in addressing hatred and intolerance. Silence is perceived as acceptance, Lawarre said.

Quoting from the Southern Poverty Law Center, Lawarre said community members must take action.

“If we don’t, hate persists,” she said.

Earhart encouraged residents to contact township offices to report flyers. This will help to identify communities where this is occurring.

“The overall message to residents is there’s far too much hate in this world,” Earhart said. “We don’t need to add to it, and we don’t need to tolerate it.”

Lawarre also encouraged anyone who received the flyer to contact GAPP at info@gappeace.org